Today is the 219th day of 2015 and the 48th day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1789, the U.S. Department of War was established.

In 1942, the U.S. 1st Marines Division landed on the island of Guadalcanal, marking the first major American offensive of World War II.

In 1964, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution in response to reported Vietnamese attacks.

In 1998, U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya were bombed.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Ralph Bunche (1904-1971), activist/Nobel laureate; Tobin Bell (1942- ), actor; Garrison Keillor (1942- ), writer/entertainer; Wayne Knight (1955- ), actor; David Duchovny (1960- ), actor; Harold Perrineau (1963- ), actor; Jimmy Wales (1966- ), Wikipedia co-founder; Michael Shannon (1974- ), actor; Charlize Theron (1975- ), actress; Sidney Crosby (1987- ), hockey player; Mike Trout (1991- ), baseball player.

TODAY'S FACT: In 1947, Norwegian anthropologist Thor Heyerdahl and his crew of five crashed into a reef at Raroia, near Tahiti, aboard their balsa wood raft, Kon-Tiki. The 4,300-mile, 101-day voyage from Peru was undertaken to prove that prehistoric South Americans could have colonized the Polynesian Islands.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 2007, Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants hit his 756th career home run, surpassing the record set by Hank Aaron.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "They say such nice things about people at their funerals that it makes me sad to realize that I'm going to miss mine by just a few days." -- Garrison Keillor, "Good Poems for Hard Times"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 1,368 -- height (in feet) of the wire suspended between the World Trade Center towers and walked by French high-wire artist Philippe Petit on this day in 1974. Petit walked back and forth, sat and even danced on the 200-foot-long wire for 45 minutes before surrendering to police.

TODAY'S MOON: Between last quarter moon (Aug. 6) and new moon (Aug. 14).

Today is the 218th day of 2015 and the 47th day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1787, the "Great Debate" over the future of the U.S. Constitution began at the Constitutional Convention.

In 1926, Gertrude Ederle became the first woman to swim across the English Channel.

In 1945, the U.S. B-29 bomber Enola Gay dropped the "Little Boy" atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan.

In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act, which outlawed some voting qualifications thought to disenfranchise black voters.

In 2012, NASA's Curiosity rover landed on Mars.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892), poet; Alexander Fleming (1881-1955), biologist/pharmacologist; Lucille Ball (1911-1989), actress/comedian; Robert Mitchum (1917-1997), actor; Andy Warhol (1928-1987), artist/filmmaker; Michelle Yeoh (1962- ), actress; David Robinson (1965- ), basketball player; Mike Greenberg (1967- ), sportscaster; M. Night Shyamalan (1970- ), filmmaker; Vera Farmiga (1973- ), actress; Travie McCoy (1981- ), rapper.

TODAY'S FACT: In 1991, CERN computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee published the first website and Web page, which offered information about the World Wide Web project.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1963, Philadelphia's NBA team changed its name from the Nationals to the 76ers.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Little flower -- but if I could understand / What you are, root and all, and all in all, /

I should know what God and man is." -- Alfred, Lord Tennyson, "Flower in the Crannied Wall"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 4,862 -- ring count of Prometheus, a bristlecone pine tree cut down for research purposes on this day in 1964 by U.S. Forest Service personnel in eastern Nevada. Scientists believe the tree may have been more than 5,000 years old, making it the oldest non-clonal organism ever discovered.

TODAY'S MOON: Last quarter moon (Aug. 6).

Today is the 217th day of 2015 and the 46th day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1884, the cornerstone for the Statue of Liberty was installed on Bedloe's Island in New York Harbor.

In 1962, Marilyn Monroe was found dead in her Los Angeles home.

In 1981, President Ronald Reagan began to fire 11,359 striking air-traffic controllers for violating his order to return to work.

In 2010, a cave-in at the San Jose Mine near Copiapo, Chile, trapped 33 miners 2,300 feet underground.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893), author/poet; Joseph Merrick aka "The Elephant Man" (1862-1890); John Huston (1906-1987), actor/director; Neil Armstrong (1930-2012), astronaut; Herb Brooks (1937-2003), hockey coach; Loni Anderson (1945- ), actress; David Baldacci (1960- ), novelist; Patrick Ewing (1962- ), basketball player; Adam Yauch (1964-2012), rapper; James Gunn (1970- ), filmmaker; Lolo Jones (1982- ), Olympic athlete.

TODAY'S FACT: Norma Jeane Baker began using the name Marilyn Monroe in 1946, but did not legally change her name until 1956.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1979, Pete Rose of the Phillies hit his 2,427th career single, breaking Honus Wagner's National League record. Rose would finish his career with 3,215 singles, a record that still stands.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Our memory is a more perfect world than the universe: It gives back life to those who no longer exist." -- Guy de Maupassant

TODAY'S NUMBER: 91 -- minutes legendary magician Harry Houdini spent underwater in a sealed coffin before emerging unharmed, on this day in 1926. The event was Houdini's last public escape.

TODAY'S MOON: Between full moon (July 31) and last quarter moon (Aug. 6).